?hair algae?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

aquazen

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Sep 28, 2004
Messages
361
Location
NC, USA
Hey all,

I've never had hair algae before, and I'm not sure if this algae growing in my tank is hair algae. From all I've seen online and read, I don't think this is hair algae. They're small green tufts of algae growing on the rock which sprouted out shortly after I converted to a Power compact Orbit 130W over my 29 gallon saltwater. The first picture is with flash, the second is without. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 

Attachments

  • algae_flash_145.jpg
    algae_flash_145.jpg
    61.7 KB · Views: 40
  • algae_no_flash_992.jpg
    algae_no_flash_992.jpg
    66.4 KB · Views: 46
Looks like hair algae to me. Test for phosphates. Doing some extra water changes should help to keep it under control.
 
definitly hair algae. I would do what Fluff said but go a step further and physically remove what is in there. It can be a plague if you don't exterminate with extreme predjudice.
 
I added phosguard by seachem to my aquaclear power filter. It's been a week now, and the hair algae just keeps growing. I'm not sure how to physically remove it aside from pinching them off where I see them. It would disturb the ecosystem too much if I started taking out the rock, scrubbing them off with a toothbrush, and putting them back in (almost all the live rock have some on it).

I also placed 15 more red legged hermits in there and added a lettuce nudibranch, none of which seem to be helping (the nudibranch looks pretty cool though). Anyways, its become quite a frustrating problem. I live in an apt and can't really hook up a RO/DI unit, so I guess I'll be plagued by this for the next two years until I move. :cry: It's enough to make me want to give up the hobby. I never had issues with hair algae in my fresh water tanks.
 
Have you tried to reduce the lighting period? Feeding less? Don't give up! It happens, I'm fighting it right now. I have had some sound advice and sometimes it is a pain, but other's sucesses have helped me.
 
I have the timer set for a regular day/night cycle. I don't want to throw off the fish's circadian rhythm. I don't feed often. Once a day is my usual schedule. The only option at this point is to install a RO/DI unit (buying RO water from fish stores is pretty silly). I'm not giving up, just frustrated. I think I will just have to mechanically remove them by hand. Another option is to pick up some mangrove plants. I hear they help by using up the nutrients in the water. Any idea wehre I could find some?
 
Once a day feedings can easily be cut back to once every other day. The fish will not be disturbed by a couple less hours of light each day.

Mangroves will not be nearly as fast as lets say, chaeto..it takes mangroves a good while to get established and start doing the job.
 
Once a day feedings can easily be cut back to once every other day.

In fighting mine, I feed every three days.

The fish will not be disturbed by a couple less hours of light each day.

Mine haven't suffered any and there are no signs of stress. I went from 10 to 8 hours lighting.
 
Emerald crabs are scavengers, so they will eat about anything if they are hungry enough. I would think that so long as they had some greens to eat, they shouldn't bother your corals. Having said that, I've never kept emerald crabs with corals; so watch them closely if you try it.
 
Back
Top Bottom